ANEMPIRICALINVESTIGATIONOFCULTIVATINGSTUDENTSAUTONOMOUSLEARNINGCAPACITYINCOLLEGEENGLISHTEACHING

into a new series of problems including:particularly severe shortagesof teachers,increased class sizes and a widening gap in t he Englishproficiency levels of university students.The best way to make studentslea r n both actively and effectively in such a situation is to challengethe traditional methods that have proved insufficient.In order t o meet the requirements of work places wit h t he intentionof raising the quality of English teaching,Shanxi University of Financeand Economics called on the staff t o reform the cur rent teaching modelof college English.By careful studying the modern theories of languageteaching and learning of West countries,the author found that cultivatingstudents'autonomous learning capacity in college English teaching mightbe an effective and efficient way.Therefore,the author produced anautonomous learning model of college English and put it into teaching ppractice.The paper reflects t he outcomes of the two year teachingexperiment of learner autonomy conducted at the university.2.Current Teaching ContextSince opening the door to the outside world,college English teaching inChina has made great progress.Indeed,remarkable changes andachievements have been made across the country.However,the developmentsat each university in China are of ten quite different from each other.Chinese students'English proficiency is commonly rather limited.Unfortunately,teaching English as a foreign language in China stillleaves much to be desired (Zhou Liuxi 2003).2.1 The goal of English teachingThe teaching goals of the traditional syllabus demonstrate an emphasison a reading for comprehension based pedagogy,and the document nominatesa basic amount of vocabulary that students were required to master.Whentuition was focused on the emphasis in the syllabus the staff who deliveredit regarded reading,writing and translating as the basis of scholarly